Heisman hopeful running back Todd Gurley is still out for the Georgia Bulldogs and as of right now it’s a mystery whether or not they’ll see him back on the field this season. Reports say they could find out news from the NCAA sometime this week.
As for right now, Georgia is continuing on for their game against Arkansas without Gurley being in the plans to play. In terms of whether or not head coach Mark Richt knows anything? You can ask him, but you might not get a lot from the answer.
“I just don’t have an answer for that,” Richt said. “I don’t know. If there’s something worthy of reporting we’ll report it, but other than that, we’re just focusing on the things that we can control right now.”
Richt knows that life would be a little easier with Todd Gurley reinstated this week and going forward. However, he knows that games won’t be easy regardless. That said, he says that people will be seeing the same Bulldogs offense this week.
“Our game plan won’t change,” Richt said. “Last year Todd had a high ankle sprain and Keith Marshall tore his ACL, unfortunately, but we didn’t change our offensive scheme. We’re not going to do that.”
While Mark Richt might not have been very optimistic that we could see running back Keith Marshall back this week. His offensive coordinator Mike Bobo seems a little more encouraged that number four could return from his knee and ankle issues.
“He got out there a couple reps today (Tuesday),” Bobo said. “It was good to see him jump in there and take some reps. Hopefully he felt a little bit better, I think it’s a little more of confidence. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow (Wednesday) when it’s not flooding and see if he can go full speed.”
Another option in the running game for Georgia is JJ Green. Yes, he did move over to defensive back this season. However with these injuries, he’s moved back to running back. Bobo is glad to have him back.
“It’s good that we’ve got a guy with a little bit of experience that played running back there last year that’s going to be able to fill in for us,” Bobo said. “He’s going to help out at that position while we’re missing some guys from injuries and other situations.”
As far as it goes with the players, they don’t know when or if Gurley will be back with the team. That said, wide receiver Michael Bennett likes the way the offense is progressing with or without Gurley.
“Passing game is improving week by week,” Bennett said. “Even though Hutson (Mason) might not be putting up all the crazy numbers, he’s still one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the SEC. If we can keep doing what we’re doing, I think we’ll be alright.”
Bennett did add before talking about the passing offense that they would love to have Gurley back. There’s no doubt about that. They do know that this is a run-first offense and the passing game coming along is making this unit better.
Right now, Georgia is 5-1 on the season and feeling good about where they stand. They’re leading the SEC East with a 3-1 record.
The issue is that Arkansas seems like a very dangerous team. They’re number one in the conference for rushing offense with an average of 278.7 yards per game. However, they are third to last in the SEC for pass defense, giving up 246.7 yards a game through the air.
Last week against Alabama, they kept the Crimson Tide to 161 yards passing and 66 yards rushing. They have lost some close games and are hungry for a win. This could be a trap for a Georgia team that wouldn’t be ready to play this game couldn’t it? Well, quarterback Hutson Mason doesn’t think people need to be worried about that.
“This team kind of seems like it has a maturity level over that past couple of years that is a little different than the last couple of years,” Mason said. “I think Saturday (against Mizzou) speaks to that. The motivation that we’ve got a bye week and we want to go into that bye week on a great feeling being 6-1 going into our bye week, controlling our own destiny. I think that gives motivation in itself for guys that everything is out there to accomplish it.”
IF Georgia does win, they would move to 4-1 in the SEC East and at the moment are in front of Kentucky.
Schedule Release:
Georgia found out Tuesday night when and where they’ll play their games in 2015. The where portion for their schedule had been determined beforehand.
Now they know the when part of the equation.
For example, Georgia will open their season on September 5 against Louisiana-Monroe at home. The following week they’ll get Vanderbilt on the road to open the SEC portion of their schedule.
I know what you’re thinking… When do that play Alabama? The answer is, October 3 at home. Needless to say, I’m sure we can expect to see Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, and the SEC on CBS crew in town for that game.
The new schedule features only one bye week for all 14 schools in the conference. Georgia’s will come the week before they play Florida down in Jacksonville.
Here is the full schedule:
September 5 UNIV. OF LA.-MONROE
September 12 at Vanderbilt
September 19 SOUTH CAROLINA
September 26 SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY
October 3 ALABAMA
October 10 at Tennessee
October 17 MISSOURI
October 24 Open
October 31 Florida (Jacksonville)
November 7 KENTUCKY
November 14 at Auburn
November 21 GEORGIA SOUTHERN
November 28 at Georgia Tech
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